Scrubbing-machine.



G. H. GASTON (Sn P. MEYER.

SORUBBING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 17,1911.

1 57 539 Patented Apr. 1, 1913.

2 SHEETSSH E ET 2.

WITNESS-ES:

enonen n. GASTON, or new roan,

N. ANB" PETER, MEYER, 0F NEWARK, NEW

JERSEY.

SGEU-BBING-MACHINE,

acaassa.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented rapt, 1,1913.

Application filed July 17, 1911. Serial No. 639,089.

Essex and State of New Jersey, both citizens.

of the United States, have jointly invented certain new" and useful Improvements in Scrubbingrlllachines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to scrubbing machines adapted particularly for use in scrubhing floors, decks, etc, and has for its object to provide a simple, economical and eiiicient construction of such machine; further, to provide means whereby the raising of 0b jectionable dust by the machine is avoided and the dust is wetted before the action of. the scrubbing brush; further, to provide means for collecting. the dirty water, which shall practically doaway with the formation of streaks upon the floor; further, to provide means whereby the dirty water can be pumped to the machine; further, to provide means whereby the supply and receiving tanks are separated so that the weight thereof may be reduced and the same may. be easily handled.

One practicalv embodiment of our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein,-

Figure 1 1s a side elevation of one of said machines, the front. traction wheel being-removed for clearness of illustrat on; Fig.2 is a sectionala elevation on the line 22 1n Fig. 8; Fig. 3 is a. plan view of the machine;

and Fig. 4 is a detail view of the receiving tank and of the squeegee. taken on the line -il of Fig. 1 looking rearwardly.

In carrying our invention into practice, we preferably employ a' frame A. upon which are mounted suitable tanks which may well be separated into the supply tanks. B and receiving tanks C. Liquid is delivered from the supply tank B to a. rotary scrubbing brush D, which is. revolved in a clockwise direction as illustrated in Fig.1, which. is a direction opposed-to. the travel oi the ma chine. Thereby liquid being delivered from,

the tank D in front of. the scrubbing: brush, the dust and dirt upon the fioor wetted before being encountered by the scrubbing brush, and the raising of an objectionable to the receiving tank dust is to a large extent prevented. This scrubbing brush is revolved from one of the traction wheels E. A squeegee F at the rear of the machine, made preferably of V-shape as shown, has its ends extending normally beyond the ends of the rotary scrubbing brush D, for the purpose of preventing formation of streaks in the-floor,- and gathers up the dirty water which is removed by a pumpG operated from the traction wheel E,

i by which it is conveyed to the receiving tank C. By means of the said machine thus briefly. described, the dust is thoroughly saturated, and together with the liquid is constantly pushed ahead. by the rotary scrubbing brush D, sothat substantially all of the dirt and discoloration on the floor is thoroughly saturated. and gathered up by the said brush, and the said dirty water as it gradually passes behindthe said. brush, is scraped up by the squeegee ll and pumped In detail the frame A, which is preferably composed principally of angle irons, has side members a a, which are connected by cross pieces a a a and a. Uprights a situated at the rear of the machine, are connected at their upper ends to inclined bars a which are supported by braces a connected thereto and to the base pieces a a. The bars of and uprights a are joined by gussets a" at the top and support a handle a, A cross-piece a is connected to the longitudinal bases a a and carries the squeegee. Another cross-piece a", similarly connected, carries a rear supporting wheel H.

The supply tank B is supported by the pair of, cross pieces a a and the receivingpieces on angle ironsthus not only connect the twoside framesof the structure together but they form seats for the tanks and hold the latter. against displacement longitudinally of the structure as the machine is opcrate-d. it will be noted, that each pair of angle irons or cross pieces is spaced apart far enough to permit theltank to set in between the vertical flanges of theangle irons so that the tanks will be securely held in The side.

being fastened.

place without structure prevent iateral the frames of: the

ill)

placement of the tanks. The said tanks are of similar size'and may be reversed 1n posit-ion if desired, or if the supply tank B should be exhausted of water the receiving tank C may be placed at the front of the machine and its water used as a supply, and the supply tank B will then formv the receiving tank. The receiving tank B has spigots b by which water is supplied to a trough b which has a row of perforations 72 extending throughout its length and is situated in 'front of the rotary scrubbing brush D, so

that the water from the supplytank B will be delivered in front of the said brush and evenly distributed throughout the length thereof. The trough is supported by arms 6 from the cross piece a The tractionwheels E have preferably tires formed of some clinging material, such as rubber, and for this purpose we have found bicycle wheels to be well adapted. The said traction wheels are journaled upon a shaft 6 which is supported at the intersections ofthe frame pieces a a. Sprocket wheels 6 upon the said shaft,t hrough chains 0 communicate motion to sprocket wheels 6 fixed upon-a shaft journaledin the frame pieces a a and carry gear a which meshes with a gear 6* mounted upon a shaft a supported from brackets 6 attached to theside frame pieces a a and carry sprockets e from which sprocket chain 0 conveys motion to sprocket wheels d mounted upon shaft (Z which carries the scrubbing brush D. This shaft d is supported upon arms d d which are connected by braces 'w 'w and journaled upon shafts and the front ends of which are unsupported in order that.

the scrubbingbrushes I) may rest upon the floor; The sprocket a may be adjusted by an adjusting roller e fixed in a slot 6 in the bracket 6 The sprocket 6 may be similarly adjusted by a roller a mounted in a slot 6 in a brace 00 connecting a and a. The receiving tank C is provided with a spigot 0 the same as the supply tank B.

At the rear of the machine upon a cross piece a" is situated the supporting wheel H. This is carried in a forked post it which passes through a perforation in the said cross piece and at its upper end has a nut 72 A spring h is interposed between the top of the fork h and the said cross piece and provides means whereby the said roller H may be adjusted and the squeegee brought nearer to or raised farther from the floor.

The squeegee F is composed of a flexible wiper or scraper f, preferably made of rubher and, mounted between plates f f which arehinged at their rear ends upon a pintle f which is supported in the crosspiece a. Thereby the two arms of the ti-shaped squeegee are pivoted upon the said pintle f and are adapted to swing about the said pintle radially inward or outward. Normally Sira-ble that the scrubbing brush B shall be otherwise than perpendicular to the base board as thereby it is liable to spatter the same. To enable the same to operate close to the base board and without liability of spattering the wall we provide means whereby either or both of the arms of the V- shaped squeegee may be adjustedinwardly;

Any one of numerous means may be em.- ployed for this purpose. A practical way of accomplishing this is illustrated. Here vertical bolts f slide in the slots f in the .frame pieces a a and are held in adjusted position by a wing nut f", together with a jam-nut f". Jointed to these vertical bolts 7 are links i which are pivotally connected to each arm of the squeegee at f". The arms of the squeegee are normally held retracted. and open by coiled springs f attached to each arm of two brackets f depending from cross piece a and which tend to hold the arms of the squeegee so that it will be supported against the rear ends of slots f".

It frequentlyhappens that in the employment of a squeegee a streak of dirt or dirty water will be left upon the floor. This is highly objectionable and would furnish means for rejecting a machine wherein such trait was observed To overcome this we provide upon the end of each arm of the squeegee F a small quantity of absorbent material such as sponge, cotton waste, jute, or similar material I, and the said material constitutes a sort of mop which will prevent the formation of the objectionable streak. These mops are so arranged at the ends of the squeegee that they will bear on the floor while the rubber portion of the squeegee bears thereon, so that the mops act simultaneously with the squeegee and prevent streaks from forming along the borders of the strip of floor being Washed by the machine. j

The dirty water as it is gathered between the arms of the -V-shaped squeegee will gradually rise until the same reaches the pipe connecting to the pump G, by which it will be withdrawn and discharged to the receiving tank C. The said pump G is of ordinary construction, and we have not illustrated its arrangement of valves, pistons,

sesame ing tank C and forms the eduction pipe. These pipes are equipped with check valves in the usual manner, so that upon the operation of the pump from the crank 9, water will be intermittently drawn up from the braces w a; which are attached to side frame members a a With the arrangement disclosed, it will be noted that the squeegee is located between the traction wheels E and the rear wheel H. lhe rear wheel is yieldingly connected with the framework of the machine, so that it is possible to press downward on the handle to force the squeegee firmly into contact with the floor. This downward movement of the rear portion of the tramsv will maintain an effective scrubbing con-' tact with such surface, even though the machine has two points of supports, via, the traction wheels E and the rear wheel h,

It is not to be inferred by reason of the great particularity with which we have described all minor details of construction of our machine, that we conceive our invention to be necessarily limited in-operation to the employment of such details of construction, as equivalent features may be employed and numerous changes and modifications made in the said arrangement and construction of parts, within the limits of the appended claims.

lVhat we claim is 1. In a scrubbing machine, a frame, a scrubbing brush at the front of the frame, an adjustablesqueegee at the rear of the machine and extending from side to side thereof, having a normal width greater than said brush, and means for adjusting the width thereof.

2. In a scrubbing machine, a V-shaped squeegee at the rear otjthe machine, and means for adjusting the ends of said squeegee toward each other.

In a scrubbing machine, a V-shaped squeegee at therear of the machine, and means for adjusting either of the ends of said squeegee inwardly.

t. in a scrubbing 'machine, a ll-shaped squeegee at the rear thereof, the arms of which are adjustable radially inwardly about the apex of the t as an axis, and means tor adjusting said arms.

5. In a scrubbing machine, a frame, a brush at the front thereof, a ti-shaped squeegee at the rear thereof having a normal Width in excess of that of the said brush and the arms of which are each adjustable radially inwardly about the ot the i! as anaxis, and means for arjusting either of said. arms independently of the other.

6. in a scrubbing machine, the combination of a scrubbing element utilizing water, with a wiping devicelio'llowiug in the wake of thesaid element and having a sweep wider than the same, said device consisting of a yielding non-absorbent floor-engaging strip and absorbent material at the ends thereof to wipe the borders of a strip of surface scrubbed by the said clement. 7. in a scrubbing machine, the combination of a scrubbing element utilizing water, with a squeegee following the same and comprising a plurality of relatively-adjustable and jointed members, and a floor-en gaging strip of yielding material extending continuously along the members and bridging the joint between them.

8. In a scrubbing machine, the combination of a scrubbing element. utilizing water,

with a s uee ee followin the same and q E s com risin a continuous ieldin floor-en'- gaging strip having its extremities disposed forwardly of the middle portion, and

a plurality of relatively-adjustable supports for the said strip.

9. In a traveling scrubbing machine, the combination of a wheel-supported frame, a scrubbing element mounted thereon, a squeegee consisting of jointed relativelyadjustable sections, means for mounting the jointed portion of the sections centrally on the frame, and members forming braces between the outer portions of the sections and the frame and adjustable for changing the etlective width of the squeegee,

v1O. A traveling scrubbing machine com prising a frame, a scrubbing element mounted thereon, a squeegee disposed behind the element and consisting of two angularlydisposed members,acentrally-disposed pivot on the frame for supporting the inner adja cent ends of the members together, bracing side members-,2 devices adjustable in slots of the members, and links connected with the devices and with theseid sections of they -.ingly attached to the back of the frame,'a

squeegee located between the rear and traction whee1s,.a scrubbing brush located in front of the traction wheels,- a frame supporting the brush and pivotally connecting the same with the sit-id structure to permit the brush to maintain contact With the floor 5 signed our names in the presence of two sub- 20 scribing Witnesses.

GEORGE H. GASTON.

PETER MEYER.

- Witnesses HENRY M. FUGH, FRED WHITE. 

